KEY POINTS:
Another hefty fall in Fletcher Building led the sharemarket down today.
The lead from Wall Street was again very negative as the latest spike in crude oil prices undermined sentiment in a market already worried about inflation and troubles in the finance sector.
Fletcher traded under $7 for the first time in 2-1/2 years and at 10.20am was down 15c at 699. It lost 21c yesterday. Real estate statistics yesterday showed the housing market was still depressed.
No 2 stock Contact Energy fell 6c to 860 while market heavyweight Telecom was steady on 38.
The NZSX-50 benchmark index was down 16 points to 3471 at 10.25am.
Goodman Fielder, seen as a good defensive stock in a falling economy, still lost 7c today to be on 193.
Ryman Healthcare, exposed to the property market, fell 4c to 172.
PGG Wrightson, which today announced the purchase of 51 per cent of a rural servicing business in Uruguay was up 1c on a record high of 276. It gained 14c yesterday. Brokers said the stock was benefiting from high dairy payouts and its dairying offshoot in Uruguay.
Oceana Gold was up 18c to 204 on a small parcel.
Finance company Dominion Finance was down 2c to 63c.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 207.54 points (1.69 per cent) to 12,082.22 and the Nasdaq composite slumped 54.93 points (2.24 per cent) to 2394.01 at the closing bell.
The Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index shed 22.88 points (1.68 per cent) to a preliminary close of 1335.56.
- NZPA
